Selective use of cameras in a distributed surveillance system

Abstract

A distributed video management system that allows for monitoring a camera allocation parameter and dynamic reallocation of video cameras to available camera nodes in response to detecting a change in the allocation parameter including selectively dropping at least one camera from the system based on a priority of the camera. The change in allocation parameter may be due to a number of potential contexts including a change in availability of camera nodes, a change in the nature of the video data captured, a change in computational load, or other change that results in a change in allocation parameter. The disconnection or “dropping” of a camera may be temporary in response to an increase in computational load on the system. The use of priority values of the cameras may allow for sufficient camera coverage to be provided by the system while maintaining processing of video data from higher priority cameras.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for processing video data in a video surveillance system, comprising:
 capturing video data at a plurality of video cameras; 
 communicating the video data from the plurality of video cameras to at least one camera node over a communication network according to a first camera allocation configuration,. wherein the at least one camera node is one of a plurality of camera nodes in the video surveillance system; 
 executing a video processing module at the at least one camera node to process the video data received at the at least one camera node from at least two or more cameras of a subset of the plurality of video cameras; 
 monitoring a camera allocation parameter at the at least one camera node, wherein the camera allocation parameter is at least in part based on a priority value assigned to each of the subset of the plurality of video cameras; and 
 modifying the first camera allocation configuration to a second camera allocation configuration different than the first camera allocation configuration in response to the camera allocation parameter, wherein the second camera allocation comprises disconnection of at least one video camera from the subset of the video cameras from all of the plurality of camera nodes of the video surveillance system based on the priority value of the at least one camera that is disconnected, and wherein the video data of the at least one video camera that is disconnected from all of the plurality of camera nodes of the video surveillance system is at least temporarily not processed by the video surveillance system. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the modifying is in response to a computational capacity of the camera node exceeding a threshold in response to an increased computational load associated with video analysis being performed by the camera node on the video data. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 operating the plurality of camera nodes, wherein in the first camera allocation configuration each of the plurality of camera nodes is operative to receive video data from a respective subset of the plurality of video cameras; and 
 wherein the modifying is in response to a collective computational capacity threshold of the system comprising the plurality of camera nodes being exceeded. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 operating the plurality of camera nodes, wherein in the first camera allocation configuration each of the plurality of camera nodes is operative to receive video data from a respective subset of the plurality of video cameras; and 
 detecting a reduction in a number of the available camera nodes in the video surveillance system; and 
 wherein the second camera allocation configuration comprises allocation of the plurality of video cameras to a reduced number of available camera nodes after the detecting the reduction in the number of the available camera nodes. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the priority is at least in part based on a field of view of each of the plurality of cameras. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 5 , wherein the at least one disconnected video camera shares an at least partially overlapping field of view with another video camera associated with the camera node. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the priority is at least in part based on a location of the video camera. 
     
     
       8. A video surveillance system, comprising:
 a plurality of video cameras operative to capture video data; 
 a plurality of camera nodes comprising at least one camera node operative to receive video data from the plurality of video cameras according to a first allocation configuration; 
 a video processing module executing at the at least one video camera node to process the video data received at the at least one camera node; and 
 a master node in operative communication with the at least one camera node to monitor a camera allocation parameter at least in part based on a priority assigned to each of the plurality of video cameras and, in response to the camera allocation parameter, modify the first camera allocation configuration to a second camera allocation configuration, wherein the second camera allocation comprises disconnection of at least one disconnected camera of the plurality of the video cameras from all of the plurality of camera nodes of the video surveillance system based on the priority value of the disconnected camera, and wherein the video data of the at least one video camera that is disconnected from all of the plurality of camera nodes of the video surveillance system is at least temporarily not processed by the video surveillance system. 
 
     
     
       9. The system of  claim 8 , wherein the master node is operative to modify the first camera allocation to the second camera allocation in response to a computational capacity of the camera node exceeding a threshold in response to an increased computational load associated with video analysis being performed by the camera node on the video data. 
     
     
       10. The system of  claim 9 ,
 wherein in the first camera allocation configuration each of the plurality of camera nodes is operative to receive video data from a respective subset of the plurality of video cameras; and 
 wherein the master node is operative to modify the first camera allocation to the second camera allocation in response to a collective computational capacity threshold of the system comprising the plurality of camera nodes being exceeded. 
 
     
     
       11. The system of  claim 8 ,
 wherein in the first camera allocation configuration each of the plurality of camera nodes is operative to receive video data from a respective subset of the plurality of video cameras; and 
 the master node is operative to detect a reduction in a number of the available camera nodes in the video surveillance system, and the second camera allocation configuration comprises allocation of the plurality of video cameras to a reduced number of available camera nodes after the detecting the reduction in the number of the available camera nodes. 
 
     
     
       12. The system of  claim 8 , wherein the priority is at least in part based on a field of view of each of the plurality of cameras. 
     
     
       13. The system of  claim 12 , wherein the at least one disconnected video camera shares an at least partially overlapping field of view with another video camera associated with the camera node. 
     
     
       14. The system of  claim 8 , wherein the priority is at least in part based on an location of the video camera. 
     
     
       15. One or more non-transitory tangible processor-readable storage media embodied with instructions for executing on one or more processors and circuits of a device a process for processing video data in a video surveillance system, comprising:
 capturing video data at a plurality of video cameras; 
 communicating the video data from the plurality of video cameras to at least one camera node over a communication network according to a first camera allocation configuration, wherein the at least one camera node is one of a plurality of camera nodes in the video surveillance system; 
 executing a video processing module at the at least one camera node to process the video data received at the at least one camera node from at least two or more cameras of a subset of the plurality of video cameras; 
 monitoring a camera allocation parameter at the at least one camera node, wherein the camera allocation parameter is at least in part based on a priority value assigned to each of the subset of the plurality of video cameras; and 
 modifying the first camera allocation configuration to a second camera allocation configuration different than the first camera allocation configuration in response to the camera allocation parameter, wherein the second camera allocation comprises disconnection of at least one video camera from the subset of the video cameras from all of the plurality of camera nodes of the video surveillance system based on the priority value of the disconnected camera,. and wherein the video data of the at least one video camera that is disconnected from all of the plurality of camera nodes of the video surveillance system is at least temporarily not processed by the video surveillance system. 
 
     
     
       16. The one or more non-transitory tangible processor-readable storage media of  claim 15 , wherein the modifying is in response to a computational capacity of the camera node exceeding a threshold in response to an increased computational load associated with video analysis being performed by the camera node on the video data. 
     
     
       17. The one or more non-transitory tangible processor-readable storage media of  claim 16 , the process further comprising:
 operating the plurality of camera nodes, wherein in the first camera allocation configuration each of the plurality of camera nodes is operative to receive video data from a respective subset of the plurality of video cameras; and 
 wherein the modifying is in response to a collective computational capacity threshold of the system comprising the plurality of camera nodes being exceeded. 
 
     
     
       18. The one or more non-transitory tangible processor-readable storage media of  claim 15 , the process further comprising:
 operating the plurality of camera nodes, wherein in the first camera allocation configuration each of the plurality of camera nodes is operative to receive video data from a respective subset of the plurality of video cameras; and 
 detecting a reduction in a number of the available camera nodes in the video surveillance system; and 
 wherein the second camera allocation configuration comprises allocation of the plurality of video cameras to a reduced number of available camera nodes after the detecting the reduction in the number of the available camera nodes. 
 
     
     
       19. The one or more non-transitory tangible processor-readable storage media of  claim 15 , wherein the priority is at least in part based on a field of view of each of the plurality of cameras. 
     
     
       20. The one or more non-transitory tangible processor-readable storage media of  claim 19 , wherein the at least one disconnected video camera shares an at least partially overlapping field of view with another video camera associated with the camera node.